Wheeled figure toy



Oct. 2, 1962 J. D. TlERl WHEELED FIGURE TOY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 3, 1962 INVENTOR Jud-fin. .D. Tier-i ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1962 J. D. TIER! WHEELED FIGURE TOY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 3, 1962 Jizai'in l7. Tieri ATTORNEY United States Patent ()fiice 3,056,231 Patented Oct. 2, 1962 3,056,231 WHEELED FIGURE TOY Justin D. Tieri, 628 Parkside Ave. NW., Grand Rapids, Mich. Filed Jan. 3, 1962, Ser. No. 164,064 8 Claims. (Cl. 46-104) The present invention relates to wheeled toys and is in the nature of an improvement or modification of the wheeled toy disclosed and claimed in my United States Letters Patent No. 2,996,836, issued August 22, 1961.

The primary objects of this invention are to provide a wheeled toy which performs substantially the same functions and accomplishes substantially the same objectives as those disclosed in my patent above identified but which is greatly simplified so as to be more economical in manufacture; and to provide such a toy having greater stability than the toy disclosed in said Patent No. 2,996,836.

Illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a wheeled toy, shown in full lines in a position for wheeling across a floor for purely amusement purposes, and shown in broken lines in a position preparatory to its utilitarian function of picking up another object such as a book, as shown;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of the same;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view of parts of the toy, taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the toy with a cover member thereof removed, or as seen in vertical section taken on lines 55 of FIGURES 2 and 3, the parts of the toy being here shown in broken lines in substantially the same positions in which they are shown in broken lines in FIGURE 1, preparatory to picking up an object, and being shown in full lines in this view in the positions which they would occupy after picking up the object;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view of a modified form of the invention, the parts of the toybeing here shown in position for wheeling across a fioor for purely amusement purposes;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of the modified toy with a cover member thereof removed, the parts of the toy being here shOWn in broken lines in positions which they might occupy preparatory to performing their utilitarian function of picking up other objects, and being here shown in full lines in the positions they would occupy after picking up another object; and

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of the modified form of toy.

Referring now in detail to the toy illustrated in FIG- URES l5 of the drawings, it comprises a body generally designated 10 which is formed and decorated in simulation of an animal, and as here shown in simulation of a caricatural fowl. The body 10 comprises a body member 11 having a forwardly-rearwardly extending opening 12 therethrough and an integral forwardly projecting lower jaw 13, and a complementary cover member 14 secured to the body member 11 by means of pins 15. A cylindrical handle 16 has a reduced forward end 17 which is fitted into a cylindrical bore 18 in the body member 11, said handle extending rearwardly-upwardly from the body 10 of the toy and providing means whereby a child can wheel the toy across a floor.

A movable jaw member generally designated 19 is pivotally mounted on the body member 11 by means of a pivot pin 20, said member 19 extending forwardly-rear wardly through the opening 12 in the body member 11. This member 19 has an upper jaw part 21 projecting forwardly of the body 10 and movable in opening and clos ing relation to the lower jaw 13 on the body member 11, and also has a rearwardly-downwardly projecting wheel extension 22 on which are mounted a pair of spaced apart Wheels 23 by means of spindles 24 extending through central apertures in the wheels 23 and into the wheel extension 22. A spring 25 is wound around the pivot pin 20 and has its upper extension 26- bearing upwardly against the body member 11 and its lower extension 27 bearing against the movable jaw member 19, whereby these members are normally urged into jaw-opening relation.

In operation, the toy is grasped by the handle 16 and rolled across a floor, during which movement it is supported in upright position by the spaced apart wheels 23. Also during such rolling movement, the operator can effect intermittent closing movements of the jaws by exerting slight downward thrusts on the handle 16 which effects interrelative movement between the body member 11 and the jaw member 19 about the pivot pin 20 thus closing the jaws. When it is desired to pick up objects such as the book 28, the handle 16 is elevated from its normal operating position seen in full lines in FIGURE 1 to a position preparatory to picking up the book 28 as seen in broken lines in the same view. Thereafter a downward thrust on the handle 16 as seen in full lines in FIGURE 5 will effect relative closing movement of the jaws 21 and 13 to clamp the book therebetween, and the child can then roll the book or other object to a place for storage when not in use.

In the modified form of the invention shown in FIG- URES 6-8, a reversal of the parts has been made but the operation of the toy remains the same. In this embodiment of the invention, the body member 31 has a forwardly-rearwardly extending opening 32 therethrough, an integral forwardly projecting upper jaw part 33 and a rearwardly-downwardly projecting wheel extension part 34 on which is mounted one of the wheels 35. A movable jaw member 36 is pivotally mounted on a pivot pin 37 and has a forwardly projecting lower jaw part 38 and a rearwardly-upwardly projecting part 39 on which is mounted the handle 40. A spring 41 normally urges the parts toward jaw-opening relation, and it will be seen that a slight downward thrust on the handle 40 will overcome the force of spring 41 to effect interrelative movement of the body member 31 and the jaw member 36 and closing movement of the jaws 33 and 38. In this embodiment of the invention the cover member 42 has an upper jaw part 43 and a wheel extension part 44 which with the corresponding parts 33 and 34 on the body member 11 form the complete upper jaw and the complete wheel extension on which are mounted the wheels 35.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides many economies of manufacture over the Wheeled toy disclosed in my Patent No. 2,996,836, and greater stability due to the provision of the spaced apart wheels, and while but two specific embodiments of the invention have been herein shown and described it will be understood that numerous details thereof may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as the same is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A wheeled toy comprising a body member simulating the body of an animal, forwardly projecting upper and lower jaws on the body member, said jaws being relatively movable to open and closed positions, a pair of spaced apart wheels pivotally mounted on the toy for movement about a horizontal axis and adapted to support the toy for rolling movement across a floor, a handle on the toy extending rearwardly-upwardly therefrom by means of which the toy may be manually pushed across the floor, and means interconnecting the relatively movable jaws and the pivotally mounted wheels whereby a downward thrust on the handle rotates the toy about said 3 horizontal axis to effect relative movement of said jaws.

2. A wheeled toy according to claim 1 including spring means for normally maintaining the upper and lower jaws in open positions.

3. A wheeled toy comprising a body member simulating the body of an animal and having an integral forwardly projecting jaw thereon, a movable jaw member pivotally mounted on the body member and having an integral forwardly projecting jaw thereon, said members being in'terrelatively movable to effect opening and closing movements of said jaws, a handle mounted on one of said members and extending rearwardly-upwardly therefrom, and the other of said members having a rearwardlydownwardly projecting wheel extension, and a pair of spaced apart Wheels pivotally mounted on said wheel extension.

4. A wheeled toy according to claim 3 including spring means interposed between the body member and the movable jaw member for normally urging said members to jaw-opening positions.

5. A wheeled toy comprising a body'rnember simulating the body of an animal, said body member having a forwardly-rearwardly extending opening therethrough and an integral forwardly projecting lower jaw, a handle mounted on said body member and extending rearwardlyupwardly therefrom, a movable jaw member pivotally mounted on the body member and extending through said opening, said movable jaw member having an upper 'jaw part projecting forwardly of the body and movable in opening and closing relation to said lower jaw and having a rearwardly-downwardly projecting wheel extension, and a pair of spaced apart wheels pivotally mounted on said wheel extension.

6. A wheeled toy according toclaim 5 including spring means interposed between the body member and the movable jaw member for normally urging said members to jaw-opening positions.

7. A wheeled toy comprising a body member simulating the body of an animal, said body member having a forwardly-rearwardly extending opening therethrough, an integral forwardly projecting upper jaw, and a'rearwardly-downwardly projecting wheel extension, a pair of spaced apart wheels pivotally mounted on said wheel extension, a movable jaw member pivotally mounted on the body member and extending through said opening, said movable jaw member having a lower jaw part projecting forwardly of the body and movable in opening and closing relation to said upper jaw, and a handle mounted on the rearward end of said movable jaw member and extending rearwardly-upwardly therefrom.

8. A wheeled toy according to claim 7 including spring means interposed between the body member and the movable jaw member for normally urging said members to jaw-opening positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,996,836 Tieri Aug. 22, 1961 

